An Impossible Someone
by Delectable Sweetness
Summary: After a mission gone wrong, John Sheppard has to try and separate what he knows to be reality from what he knows to be an imagination. But is what he perceives to be an imagination really reality? And was what he thought to be reality really his imagination?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate Atlantis or any of its characters. No copy infringement intended. However, I do own my own writing, my own characters and the plot to this story, Delectable Sweetness©.**

**Summary: After a mission gone wrong, John Sheppard has to try and separate what he knows to be reality from what he knows to be an imagination. But is what he perceives to be an imagination really reality? And was what he thought to be reality really his imagination?**

**Author's Note: I know I have several Sparky stories that need to be updated, but I have literally been thinking about this story non-stop for months and I just had to write it down. It's probably only going to be about ten chapters long, so it's gonna be a short one. Anyway, hope you like it. :)**

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**Chapter One**

The rusted, metal shackles cut deep into his wrists, the skin raw and broken. The crimson liquid dripped down his painfully strung up arms, it pooling around the tops of his shoulders before trailing down along his bare, bruised and lacerated body. He was pretty sure that he had at least three broken ribs, if not more. He was also positive that his right arm was broken, too, which made his current position all that more uncomfortable, all that more painful, but he refused to give them what they wanted – he refused to cry out, to beg, plead for his life.

It hurt to breathe, his lungs burning as they struggled to take in any oxygen. The left side of his face ached terribly, and he was sure that it looked a state, too. Blood poured from a wound on his head and from his nose. His lips were dry and chapped, his mouth feeling like a barren desert from lack of water. His stomach knotted and cramped from hunger – he couldn't remember the last time he had eaten anything.

He coughed, squeezing his eyes shut tightly and wincing at the burning pain. He didn't know how much more he could take of this, how much longer he would last. He'd lost track of how long he'd been here – trapped, tortured. His days and nights had become blurred, his minutes and hours not even registering anymore. He was starting to lose hope that his team would ever find him. Were they even looking for him? He had to keep reminding himself that they would never leave him behind; they would never just abandon him.

But it was so hard to believe, to have faith.

He knew he should have trusted his gut instinct when it had come to the Var'Tan's. They'd originally come here to broker a simple trade agreement, one that would've given them medical technology much more advanced than they currently possessed. Honestly, right from the get go he'd thought it'd been too good to be true. Who just gave away such advanced technology in exchange for nothing? But Woolsey had ignored his opinion and had ordered them back to the planet to sign the treaty agreement.

The moment they had entered the Chancellor's room things had immediately gone downhill. He'd been captured on the way back to the gate. The rest of his team had made it through, though, and for that he was thankful.

He coughed, wincing again.

Elizabeth would never have made that mistake. She would have listened to his opinion, would have paid closer attention to the Var'Tan's. She would have never been bought over so easily by the thought of getting free supplies.

He felt his grime-filled eyes tear up at the thought of Elizabeth.

God, he missed her so much.

He missed her smile, the sound of her voice, the way she would arch that perfectly slender eyebrow. Hell, he even missed her yelling at him for being such an idiot. He missed bringing her an endless supply of coffee or catching her in her office past midnight and trying to convince her to abandon her paperwork and go to bed.

Despite his current situation, he couldn't help but smile a little. She was always so damn stubborn when it came to leaving her reports for another day.

Most importantly, though, he just missed her presence. He missed knowing that she was on Atlantis; up in her office buried under a mountain of paperwork and that she was safe.

He closed his tired eyes as he continued to think about her.

He wished that he could have saved her. He wished she'd never been hit with that damn beam in the first place! He wished-

He wished for a lot of things, but he'd never wished for anything as hard as wanting Elizabeth back.

He came out of his thoughts when he heard gunfire and familiar voices coming down the hall. He smiled a little. His team had come for him, come to rescue him. He felt relieved. He'd almost given up hope.

He broke into a fit of coughing. The pain was unbearable and he was feeling lightheaded from the exertion of trying to catch his breath.

Soon enough the darkness pulled him under and he forgot about everything.

**~xoXox~**

_Beep… beep… beep…_

The noise of what he knew to be a heart monitor brought him out of his deep, painless slumber. The smell of disinfectant sat heavily in his nose as the sound of people quietly shuffling around the infirmary attacked his ears. He heard someone moving in the chair next to his bed and he tried to open his eyes to see who it was, but he couldn't.

He groaned, his entire body aching as he came-to. It still hurt to breathe. His right arm and the left side of his face throbbed terribly. His wrists and head stung and pulsated something fierce.

He groaned out again.

"John?" His breath caught in his throat. That voice sounded so familiar, but it couldn't be, could it? "I'm gonna get, Doctor Keller."

"No," he managed to rasp out, his mouth dry. His eyes fluttered open, but closed against the sudden intrusion of a bright light.

"It's alright, John." He felt a warm hand slip into his unmoving one. A tear slipped down his cheek. "You're okay."

He opened his eyes again and this time forced them to stay open. It took a few moments for his eyes to adjust to his new surroundings and for the ache to disappear. He moved his head slightly and met the concerned face of an impossible someone, someone he hadn't seen in a long time, someone he'd painfully wept over.

But here she was, green eyes looking at him with concern, her hand clasped around his one.

Another tear slipped down his cheek. This couldn't be real. She was gone.

But she looked like she had never left. She wore her red t-shirt and black pants, her brown curls resting down around her shoulders. He spied a data-pad on the chair next to her. She was perfect. She was everything that made her Elizabeth Weir.

"John?"

He brought his wavering attention back to her. "Elizabeth?" He rasped out shakily.

"I'm here, John," she reassured with a smile.

He shook his head slightly. "Y-you can't be – You… died!"

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**Author's Note: So what did you think? Should I continue? I know this chapter was rather short, but it's starting it all off. :)**

**Also, this is the order that I'm going to be updating my stories in from now on;**

**1: Crossing The Divide.**

**2: The Ugly Truth.**

**3: Five Times Elizabeth Weir Touched Something Alien.**

**4: An Impossible Someone.**

**Since my Sparky Collection isn't actually a multi-chaptered fic, but rather a drabble collection that will be updated at any time. **

**Anyway, I'd like to hear your thoughts. Review please. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Okay, okay, I know that the wait on this update was seriously long, too long in fact, but I had a bad case of writer's block for this, so I decided to work on some of my other stories. Then inspiration struck. Yay!**

**Also, thank you all for such lovely and wonderful reviews! :)**

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**Chapter Two**

"Died?" There was a pause for a moment as Elizabeth seemed to be processing what he had just told her. "You dreamed… You dreamed I _died_? I…" She swallowed, her grip slackening on his hand a little.

"It wasn't a dream." He shook his head, pulling his hand out of hers. "You died three years ago!" His voice hardened as he gazed at her… or it. This had to be the Var'Tan's messing with him, manipulating him to try and get information out of him. He wasn't going to break. He knew that this wasn't real and that he had to get out of here.

He pulled the IV out of his arm and began ripping the electrodes off of his body, trying to hold back a cry of pain as he felt them slowly detaching from his skin. "John – what're you doing?!" Elizabeth cried out, horrified.

"This isn't real! I have to get out of here!" He spat out, wrenching the nasal cannula off of himself and throwing it to the side, his arm aching as he did so.

"John – stop. You're gonna hurt yourself," she pleaded as she pressed her hands against his tender shoulders and tried to push him back down onto the bed.

"No!" He exclaimed, and with as much strength as he could muster, he pushed her off of him. His heart jumped into his throat when she hit the ground and he almost stopped what he was doing to make sure that she was okay, but then he remembered that she wasn't real. None of this was!

He threw his tired, heavy legs over the side of the bed and stood up. As soon as his feet hit the floor the rest of his body followed, landing on his side and the arm that was already broken. He cried out in agonising pain and rolled onto his back with a heavy cough, tears stinging his eyes. "John?" He felt Elizabeth's hands moving over him. "Help? Please – Somebody?" She cried out. "You're gonna be fine, John."

She rested her hands against his face and as his bleary gaze settled on her he saw nothing but concern-filled green eyes staring down at him. Oh, how he'd missed those eyes. He wished that she was real, that she was actually here. He'd give anything to have her back with him again. "This isn't real," he murmured, a painful lump forming in his throat. "This isn't real…"

"Shh," she soothed. "You're okay." She gave him a soft smile as her thumbs tenderly stroked along his cheeks. Her touch was so… warm, so real… It was strange. How could something unreal feel real? "Just relax," she whispered, moving one hand away from his face and grasping his left one. His grip tightened on her hand and his breathing picked up, his heart racing as darkness began to cloud his vision. "Everything'll be alright, John. I promise you."

He tried to believe that he'd be fine as he looked at her, that everything would be okay as the darkness sucked him under.

**~xoXox~**

_One week later._

"Elizabeth?" John called out as he hobbled over towards his hospital bed.

Elizabeth turned around with a look of shock on her face, but quickly covered it and gave him a small smile. "John," she replied, hesitantly moving closer to him. A lump formed in his throat when he noticed the bruise along her cheekbone that the make-up she was wearing failed to hide. His entire body filled with shame and instead of saying something to her he slowly made his way over to his bed, breaking any and all eye contact with her. "How're you feeling?" She asked tenderly, and he knew that he didn't deserve her compassion after what he'd done – twice!

He looked at her and noticed that she was now standing at the end of his bed. "Better," he answered honestly. His body still ached, but it was more tolerable now than it had been a week ago. "Doctor Keller said she's releasing me today with orders of strict bed rest." He frowned. He hated lying around and doing nothing, but he knew that if he wanted his body to heal then he would have to follow doctor's orders.

"Of course," Elizabeth said with a grin.

He returned her smile, but then a serious look crossed his face. "Look, I just- I want to apolo-"

"Don't!" She cut him off, moving closer to him and grasping his hand. He couldn't help but smile at the feel of her touch, especially when she linked her fingers with his. "I'm not angry, John," she said softly, threading the fingers of her other hand through his hair.

He dropped his head and closed his eyes. "I shouldn't have…" he trailed off with a regretful sigh. He'd hit her in a fit of fury when he'd tried to escape a second time. She'd only been trying to help him, but he'd been convinced that she'd only been an image that the Var'Tan's had concocted. He wasn't so sure of that now.

Today was the first time since the second incident a week ago that he'd seen her. He'd done a lot of thinking while being stuck in his damn hospital bed, and well, Ronon and Rodney might have given him a few choice words – Teyla had been more subtle in her approach – but he'd come to the conclusion that over the course of the week he'd missed her presence by his bedside and that maybe, just maybe, this was his _real_ reality and the other one had been a fake.

But maybe that was just wishful thinking.

"Please John, you can't blame yourself. I know you didn't mean to hurt me. It wasn't your fault and I don't blame you," she reassured, moving her hand from his hair to his cheek.

"Not my fault? I hit you!" He yelled and she jumped. He let out a bitter laugh. "See? You're afraid of me!"

"I'm not afraid of you, John Sheppard!" She spat out with a hardened look, gripping his chin and forcing him to look at her. He was taken off guard when she pressed her lips against his. Before he could even fully comprehend what was happening between the two of them, she pulled away from him with tears in her green eyes. "You really don't remember, do you?"

"I…" he didn't know what to say. Elizabeth placed her hand over her mouth and turned her back to him. He watched as her shoulders started shaking. "I'm sorry, Elizabeth. I just- I need some time," he declared softly, standing up and reaching out to take her hand.

"I know." She sniffled and looked over her shoulder at him. "I just didn't think-" She looked away from him. "I know what you went through must've been terrible," she started, "and after what… _happened_… I just thought if I left you alone, if I let you heal, that you would remember that this is real, that _I'm _real. I hoped-" She stopped and began sobbing. He turned her around and pulled her into his embrace, slipping his good arm around her. His ribs ached as he held her against him, but he didn't care. "I hoped and prayed that you hadn't forgotten what we have, what we've shared, but… but you did," she choked out. "How could you just forget everything that happened in the last three years? How could you forget us?" She whispered out, her voice cracking.

"I don't know," he admitted, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

If this was really his reality then why couldn't he remember anything that'd happened?

Why couldn't he remember being with Elizabeth? That was not something that he would just willingly forget.

Was it really just the trauma that he'd suffered that had caused his memory loss like Doctor Keller had told him?

Or was this all just a fake?

He wasn't so sure he wanted to know anymore.

Could he really leave this reality where Elizabeth was alive and healthy and go back to one where she was dead?

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**Author's Note: Okay, so I know the time jump might seem a little out of place and certain things might seem a little fast, but I promise you there is a method to my madness. :P**

**Also, I know that this chapter is super short, and I'm hoping that the next one will be much longer and won't take as long to update.**

**Anyway, review please. :)**


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